I just read my son’s report card. The teacher wrote, “Pleasure to have in class but talks too much, struggles with math, and his handwriting resembles ancient cave paintings.” Ok, I exaggerated on that last one, but for fun my mother pulled out my old report cards, and they read almost word for word. 

We have moments as parents when we’re so proud of our children. We say, “That’s my boy/girl!” But what about the days when our children are kicked off the team for breaking training rules or are failing every class? To God that must be what it looks like when he looks at us. He created us to be holy and perfect. But that ship sailed long ago, as Paul reminds us: “I know that good itself does not dwell in me, that is, in my sinful nature” (Romans 7:18).

God hates when we don’t make the grade, talk too much out of both sides of our mouths, have a me-first attitude, and when our whole attitude toward God and others needs improvement. But Jesus did something about our sloppy sins. He became our substitute. “God made him who had no sin to be sin for us, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God” (2 Corinthians 5:21). Through Jesus you get an A on your report card. God is and will always be proud of you!